Given the entrenched misogyny, together with religious zealotry sanctioned by both Church and State in the 1640s, there was little hope for any woman accused of being a witch. Yet those accusations were but one step in the execution of these women by hanging. Next, was the extraction of a confession of Devil worship. Why has AK Blakemore chosen to write the other characters in the third-person? What effect does this have on our relationship to them? Seventeenth-century England was a world turned upside down. Arguments over religion erupted in violence. Calvinists wanted a stripped-down Christianity wholly determined by literal readings of the Bible. The Church of England had adopted Protestant doctrines but still incorporated Catholic rites. Calvinists believed in the equality of believers but not women, whom they saw as responsible for original sin. The language it's written in is historically appropriate and downright beautiful, without heavy-handed pretensions. In a novel about horrific historical injustices, what do you feel is or would be the difference between using a historical fiction genre and the horror genre to tell the story?

Clearly, physical abnormalities were still only tentative evidence of witchcraft at the time, because what Hopkins did next was to set the tone for the persecution and murder of hundreds of women over much of the Western world. Hopkins devised a method of interrogation (“witch-finding”) that was designed to extract confessions of devil-worship from his hapless victims. He termed it “watching”. It was a specific process of coercion for a confession rather than medieval-style torture, which was not admissible as evidence. As Imogen Simon argues strongly in her documentary, these eight women of Manningtree were victims of misogyny as much as religious fervor. The highlighting of misogyny is correct and is often overlooked in discussions of witch-trials. Eastern England of the 1640s was a Puritan stronghold, a society in which women were considered culturally inferior to men. It was a culture in which women could be accused so readily of being witches. Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.Manningtree features in Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel Witchfinder General and in A.K. Blakemore's 2021 novel The Manningtree Witches. The Manningtree Witches inhabit a world in which centuries of custom and tradition are being violently ruptured by revolution and civil war. It is a world in which social reproduction is being restructured and women disciplined and disempowered. Witch hunting was not the only response to this crisis. In urban centres like London, women played an active role in the English Revolution, petitioning parliament and organising for wider participatory democracy. Katherine Chidley and Elizabeth Lilburne were respected activists in the Leveller Movement. In rural Essex, however, women were not able to organise collectively for social change. They were the victims of crises which exacerbated prejudices and ambitions and over which they had no control. This brilliant novel is a great read and an important reminder that capitalism came into existence dripping with blood from every pore. Some of that blood belonged to thousands of poor, marginalised women who were accused of witchcraft and murdered by the state. We also get a sense of many other characters through a close third-person narration, in places, including several chapters about Matthew Hopkins. Contemporary woodcut depicting Matthew Hopkins with witches and their familiars (“imps”), published 1647.

Today, with the 18th century development of Mistley Quay nearby, we're not far from urban development.Three hundred years ago this would have been a much wilder area, a feral forest outside the confines of the town. It’s not hard to imagine this as a place to hide and seek sanctuary from the fear and loathing, accusation and uncertainty happening in the streets.Devastating detachment … Fiona Shaw in the Deborah Warner’s adaptation of The Testament Of Mary by Colm Tóibín. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Puritans sought to reform themselves by purifying from their churches the last vestiges of Roman Catholic teaching and practice. It was a movement that gained popular strength in the early 1600s, especially in East Anglia. We never get a full clarification whether Beldam West, her daughter Rebecca and the other women were actually witches, and we get a glimpse of their lives and their imprisonment. We get a front row seat of their feelings, and how this impacts them as well as the community. It was so interesting to also get a point of view from the perspective of the witch hunter. As the villain that he is, I loved getting to know his opinion on the situation and his reasoning. The novel is superbly written, atmospheric and with the feel of dread and helplessness. The language is not easy to follow but it definitely adds to the authenticity of the period. The characters feel natural and not modern as is often the case with historical fiction. Descriptions of Essex are poetic and it does not surprise as the author is a poet and this is her debut novel. And a remarkable debut! Mother Clarke is old and going blind from cataracts. She has lost a leg and her hands shake with palsy. While Rebecca sees Mother Clarke as a “withered and slatternly old woman,” her neighbors perceive her as “cunning,” capable of making small charms. Rebecca assumes it’s the widow’s “web-in-the-eye” that draws folks. “Beyond the uncanny way it makes her look — like a fairy came along and scrubbed the meats clean of spots — people get terribly superstitious about such things as cataracts, and choose to believe that God would not be so cruel as to rob an old woman of her earthly gaze without equipping her with a spectral one, to say sorry.”

Town population 2011". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015 . Retrieved 25 September 2015. Thanks to his success as a witch-finder, doing “God’s work” in the deeply pious counties of East Anglia, Matthew Hopkins gained tremendous notoriety. Emboldened by a profession long-supported by Church and State, and now charging extortionate fees, Hopkins anointed himself “Witch-finder General”, traveling all over Eastern England claiming to be officially commissioned by Parliament to uncover and prosecute witches.

Lewis, Russell (1975). Margaret Thatcher: a personal and political biography. Routledge and Kegan Paul. p.16. ISBN 0-7100-8283-5. Rural England, 1643. Rebecca West lives with her mother in a rundown house, in the miserable hamlet of Manningtree. They manage to scrape a living as seamstresses but times are tough. Most of the men are away fighting wars and food is often scarce. It seems like the only prospect of hope or happiness for Rebecca lies in her crush on the town clerk John Edes, who teaches her Scripture once a week. Tongues are set wagging in the village upon the arrival of Matthew Hopkins, a wealthy and mysterious individual. A short time after, a local boy becomes ill with unusual symptoms, leading Hopkins and some other men to conclude that he has been possessed by the devil. Suspicion falls upon Rebecca's mother, and along with some other women she is arrested and charged with witchcraft. Rebecca tells us the story in her own voice, and it is certainly not the voice of a shrinking victim. She may be powerless but she has strong opinions and a rebellious nature, and a sense of humour that helps her through the darkest times. She recognises the unfairness in society between rich and poor, man and woman, but there’s nothing she can do to change that so her aim is to get through life as best she can regardless. She has the benefit of physical attractiveness, but her low so Here are some questions that you might like to consider or discuss with friends, family and fellow members of the Book Club as you make your way through the book.

The characters seem to have changing personalities, in particular Rebecca’s. One time she’s well-read, strong and independent and the next she’s ignorant, foolish and naive. And that was not because of some scheme of hers as we follow her story in first person narration, so we very well know her thoughts and intentions.And the author does a brilliant job, principally by the wonderful character of Rebecca in capturing their voices – their (again her words) “character, humour and pride”. The Manningtree Witches is the second historical fiction book that we have read in the NCW Book Club – but it’s very different to A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee , which has a crime plot.